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Decatur City Council announced on Monday that it will hold a special called meeting on Thursday to enter an executive session with Green Research and Technology to discuss its findings after spending 1,150 hours on the review.
After the council is briefed on the findings, the city’s legal department will review the report and redact specific names and anything regarding pending or potential litigation.
Decatur City hired Green over the summer to conduct a third-party internal review of the Decatur Police Department following the death of Steve Perkins in Sept. 2023 and other reports of misconduct in the department. The review has cost the city around $300,000.
Ahead of the special called meeting, residents utilized the public comment period of the city council meeting on Monday night to inquire about the possible changes in protocol and leadership at the police department once the internal review becomes public.
“People will disagree with me, and we’ve had debates about this, but I do believe that the vast majority of our police officers are good police officers. I do believe that our training needs to be better, I do think that we have an issue with following policies and procedures, but I do believe that the vast majority of our police officers want to do good for our city,” said Councilman Billy Jackson.
One resident asked Jackson if he thought that a director of all safety departments would assist the city with facilitating better safety measures.
“I think that our safety measures are in place already. I think that we have not necessarily followed them, and I’m sure that other cities have deficiencies as well, but I don’t think that we followed our safety protocols as we should have. To put a person in that position, I’m not sure that solves anything. I think that what solves it is having the right people in the positions now,” said Jackson.
Another resident echoed the question of what will inevitably come when the report is reviewed and released. Council President Jacob Ladner explained that the report is to sort between what’s real and what’s false when it comes to stories of the police department.
“We’re going to be able to have a comprehensive look. We’re going to be able to trust that fully, not that I don’t trust you guys, a lot of you have told me things that are true. But sometimes it’s not,” said Ladner.
The resident also voiced concerns about the city’s fire department as well as the police department and expressed frustrations with the continuous shortcomings throughout the city. Ladner explained that many of the issues that have been voiced to the council are mayoral duties.
Ladner explained that the council has a responsibility to step into certain voids that were left by the mayor. For example, Mayor Tab Bowling has not attended a public comment section of a meeting in almost a year. But ultimately, running the city is not a councilman’s job.
“We are part-time, I know people want to get on me for saying that, but it’s a fact. We have other jobs, we have other responsibilities, that’s just the way this role is structured. It is very difficult for us to dive into a 600-employee, major, big operation that’s all over the city, doing different work in every department. That should not be our role if the city doesn’t function then the council has to do that,” said Ladner.
Green’s internal review of the Decatur Police Department is expected to be made public within the next two weeks.
